Many of us who make our careers in the travel industry find travel woven throughout the fabric of our lives. Whether it’s born of nature or nurture, we tend to gravitate to travel, sometimes without conscious decision, and it often influences the course of our lives. Such is the story of Dominic Bradley’s path to U.S. Naturalization.

Dominic is a corporate travel advisor in Covington Travel’s Charlottesville, Virginia office. He was originally born in England. As a child, his family immigrated to Australia and he grew up in Sydney. After finishing school, he returned to the U.K. – with dual British and Australian citizenship – to work in horticulture. It turned out that his chosen career path didn’t hold his interest very long, so in 1994 Dominic quite arbitrarily took a job in Italy for an “on site” tour operator. He sold and ticketed local tours in Italy, then Paris the next summer. He was such a natural, he was promoted to tour driver/guide next where he escorted groups of tourists around Russia, Scandinavia and Europe.

Meanwhile, American Amy graduated from college and took a two week motorcoach trip in Europe with some girlfriends. Guess who was their tour guide? Amy and Dominic hit it off on that trip and quickly fell in love! They decided to live in Virginia near Amy’s family, but as a non-citizen, Dominic needed a visa to stay long-term, so Amy’s parents sponsored Dominic for a fiancé visa. Dominic again landed in travel, this time with TWA, and they married in Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1999.

After a couple years, they moved to Australia where Dominic’s family still resides and Amy acquired her Australian dual citizenship while living there. True to form, Dominic gravitated to the travel industry – he worked as a Product Manager for a large travel company – and Amy taught at the American International School. Their first daughter, Elise (now 8), was born in Australia, so she automatically has dual citizenship by right of birth and the fact that her mom is a U.S. citizen. In 2007, the growing family headed back to Virginia, but this time Dominic applied for permanent residency (green card) and Amy was Dominic’s sponsor. Their second daughter, Adeline (now 4), was born in the U.S. Unlike the rest of her family, she has single U.S. citizenship, although she is eligible for Australian citizenship if she ever desires.

U.S. Permanent Resident Cards must be reinstated every 10 years. Since Dominic had been in the U.S. for about seven years and they were happily raising their girls near Amy’s parents, Dominic decided to apply for full U.S. citizenship. The U.S. allows citizens of certain politically-friendly countries to obtain U.S. citizenship without renouncing their own, so at the end of the process, he will actually have a tri-citizenship – England, Australia and United States.

Requirements for U.S. Naturalization

The requirements for U.S. citizenship include holding a green card for at least five years, submitting to a biometrics (fingerprinting) appointment and a personal naturalization interview. Applicants must also be able to speak, read and write English, and understand U.S. history and government (civics). As a native English-speaker, Dominic had no qualms about language, but shared that he never studied the Declaration of Independence, Civil War or U.S. political structure in Australian school, so he and eight year old Elise learned together.

On September 17, 2014,

• after 24 years of working in travel
• after living in at least five different countries
• after meeting his American wife in Europe
• after marrying her in the U.S.
• after starting a family in Australia

Dominic Bradley officially became a United States citizen!

Dominic’s friends and family were there to witness the culmination of his long journey as he swore an oath to the U.S. during a naturalization ceremony at the Frontier Cultural Museum in Stanton, Virginia. Governor Terry McAuliffe was in attendance – bet Dominic was glad he aced those civics lessons!

The staff of Covington Travel congratulates Dominic on his accomplishment, particularly Josée Covington, our company’s president and CEO, who is also a proud naturalized U.S. citizen.